North Carolina Restaurant Hosts Titanic-Themed Dinner

A restaurant in North Carolina called Spring House and local wine shop Winston-Salem Wine Market celebrated history in slightly morbid fashion by recreating the menu on the Titanic for three nights last week with help from .

The ten-course meal coincided with the 105th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, on April 15, using a menu saved from the ocean liner’s first class dining salon.

The idea for the journey into historical dining came from Beth Binder, the restaurant manager. She also picked all the wines that were paired with the meal.

Tim Grandinetti, the head chef, only tweaked the original menu slightly. He told the Winston-Salem Journal “I took into consideration whether tastes have changed, but it’s really not too far removed.”

The Titanic had an incredibly impressive spread for a boat. Grandinetti said that he had to scale down the sheer volume of food that he served, citing one course on the menu that boasted, “lamb, duck, sirloin of beef, green peas, two kind of potatoes, rice and carrots.”

The Titanic was carrying a staggering amount of meat—around 75,000 pounds—and thousands more in poultry, fish, and produce, making extravagant meals like that possible. At $60,000 per ticket (in today’s currency) for first class, they earned it.

Obviously, Grandinetti couldn’t recreate such lavish conditions in his restaurant, but he did manage to serve salmon, filet mignon, pan-roasted lamb, and quail at his version of the dinner.

20 people each night ended up paying $125 dollars per person for three-hour meal. The restaurant seemed to draw a history buff clientele, who played Titanic-themed trivia games for gift cards between courses to keep themselves entertained.

Binder says that the event was something unexpected, and that she hopes to have similar themed dinners in the future. Hopefully her next idea is a little more cheerful, though.